This is Water

 Blog 9/14: This is Water 

Having the privilege to make choices, at a free will, is something a lot of us, if not most of us, overlook it everyday. All we usually care for is the exact moment; we often disregard the things that make up for it. Through the decisions we make day to day, we get to know ourselves better: the way we perceive the world, what we say, and our demeanors. In the commencement speech at Kenyon College, David Wallace delivers a meaningful—if not life changing—message that challenges the audience to reflect on their daily actions to consider not just what seems superficial, but at a deeper level. Although Wallace is speaking to the whole nation, he uses a colloquial and conversational tone as he was delivering the speech to college students at that time. As these collective individuals are steps


before entering the real-adult-world, Wallace reminds them that sometimes we have to turn our “default settings” off, to perceive the obvious things around us; he notes that being tunnel minded can lead to lost opportunities and in other words living life under a rock. Wallace readily explains this through an anecdote in which 2 young fish encounter a quandary. They are questioned by an older fish as he asks “how’s the water?” In that moment, both are perplexed about the purpose and meaning of the question. Wallace speaks that “the most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see and talk about.” Essentially, what Wallace is implying through this anecdote is that we, as humans, are just like fish when we ignore and disregard the things that make us who we are, which ultimately leads to mistakes and and predicaments in the long run. In the end, what needs to be remembered is that the most important thing, in life, is to live every moment and cherish everything around us—big or small.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Identity

  This week, as we set down the graphic novel “The Best we Could Do” by Thi Bui, it is without a doubt that this book far exceeded my former expectations and challenged me to think abstract notions as well as the need to thoughtfully analyze and approach it multifacetedly: motifs, colors, specific pages, symbols, structure.     At the outset, my outlook on this novel was very superficial and simple. However, as Bui progressed through the respective journey of both of her parents, it struck me hard; the saying “like father like son” was indeed concrete: children are the temporary shadows of their parents. What they do and say is a reflection of a parent’s own identity—it is the parent’s duty to uncover and foster their children’s shadow so that they manifest their own identity. However, I also learned that it isn’t just the parents who carry this obligation: additional family members, friends, associates are all pivotal in the manifestation. In Thi Bui’s case, it was the f...
Read more

"Leave the game before the game leaves you"

  This week, we read an allegory-like piece called Marrying Absurd by Joan Didion. The short story explored the idea of marriage–specifically centered around Americans–and the transformation of meaning on conventional sentiments related to marriage. Didion starts off by unveiling marriage culture in Las Vegas; she makes clear observations and expresses her notions and sentiments towards it. Throughout the short story, Didion conveys marriage in American culture through the persistent use of reported experiences and examples to assert her argument: marriage is hollow. Although to some it may seem like Didion is “mocking” individuals that abide in these cliques, in hindsight, she’s simply and frankly portraying how Vegas is the transparent representation of American culture. In an extreme translation, Didion is claiming how this culture is the epitome of venality itself. This process of hollowing however, was neither natural nor inevitable primitively. It was through the craving of ...
Read more

What Could Have Been

  Last week in our English class, we started a graphic novel, exploring another genre like the classical Great Gatsby and the film Sweat. Although many have argued that graphic novels are not “real books,” this unavoidably proves these critics haven't yet encountered a novel like “The Best we Could Do” by Thi Bui. When I first got handed this book, Jayden and I were like an asian author=conventional immigrant story. We thought that the plot would be predictable, but we soon learned that we were everything but close to the truth. Starting from page 1, I noticed that Thi Bui was different. Up to chapter 6, it feels as if there’s a secret, or something she drew so that we’re able to analyze it and dive deeper. One prominent element she uses is the blood-like red and the symbol of swimming. In every page, it’s like there’s some sort of red smearing on something, and ALWAYS on Thi. I personally came to the conclusion that it most likely represents the emotional intensity from the war, f...
Read more